‘Looting’ Of CBN: AfDB President Says Allegation Against Gowon ‘Misinformation’

The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has described the allegation that former Nigerian head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, looted “half the central bank’ by a British lawmaker as misinformation.

Adesina made his position known on Thursday in a monitored tweet.

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A UK parliamentarian, Tom Tugendhat, on Monday during a plenary, accused former head of state, Gowon, of leaving Nigeria with “half the central bank” to the UK when he left power in 1975.

Adesina said, “Be careful of misinformation! H.E. General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s former Head of State, is a man of great honour, decency, honesty, amazing simplicity, humility and integrity. I know him. A great and admirable elder statesman of Nigeria. His honesty and integrity are impeccable.”

Tugendhat had earlier said, “We need to stop those who are profiting from the wealth of that great nation and hiding it here. Some people will remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half the Central Bank, so it is said, and moved to London.

“We know that today, even now in this great city of ours, there are sadly some people who have taken from the Nigerian people and hidden their ill-gotten gains here,” the UK lawmaker had alleged.

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The allegation has since drawn reactions from Nigerians, particularly the political class.

Also in response, Senator Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna South in the 8th Senate, described Tugendhat’s allegation against Gowon as “outright falsehood”.

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